that I simply get out of here alive. I don’t care what else happens; I want to live and see my grandparents again. A small part of me also wants Konstantin to live, but I tell her to shut up; after all he betrayed us, didn’t he? Big time.
As the fight nears the center of the room, Konstantin gets the upper hand and throws Andrius off, sending him into one of Tigran’s men. Andrius hits the man with an oomph of exhaled breath, and both crash into the wall.
I’m not sure what happens next because one moment Konstantin and Andrius are fighting, the next Andrius has a gun. Konstantin turns to Tigran and punches him so hard in the face, he goes down.
Popov screams out something in Russian, and his men draw their weapons. Andrius raises his, and I watch in utter horror as he shoots three men so quickly it almost doesn’t register.
Boom-boom, straight in the chest, the first man goes down. Boom, the second man in the head. Oh my God, I’m going to be sick. Then two more shots to the third man, one in the chest, and one in the head.
The noise of the gun is deafening. It’s more like a canon, and my ears are ringing. My vision is also blurring as I bend over and try to get some air. It’s as if I can’t breathe. No matter what I do I’m merely sucking in tiny bits of air as if through a straw.
Something knocks into me, and I turn to see one of my captor’s men push me roughly out of the way as he raises his gun on Konstantin. I don’t even think. I scream and throw my whole weight into the man, knocking his shot off course. The retort of the gun roars in my head as the bullet whizzes right by Konstantin, missing him as he whips around in time to see the man elbow me in the side. I go down to the ground, gasping for air.
Andrius repays the man by shooting him, and he falls on me. I scream and push and push at his dead weight, trying to get him off me. As I scramble to stand, everything slows down as if time itself has broken the laws of physics.
Tigran has righted himself too, and he’s staring at me with a vicious smile. “Fucking liars,” he says with a quick glance to Konstantin, before he raises his gun and points it right at me.
Shit, I’m going to die. My life doesn’t flash in front of me, nothing so dramatic. Instead, I simply think, I’m going to die.
Another huge boom, and blood blossoms on Tigran’s face as a hole opens in the side of his neck, and he goes down like an oak felled in the forest.
I turn as does Konstantin, and we both stare at the big Yorkshire man who’d brought me downstairs.
Why did he shoot his own side? His boss?
“What the fuck?” Popov screams.
Then the room erupts.
There’s more gunfire, and I can’t tell who is shooting who anymore. Konstantin yells at me to get down, but I can’t move. I close my eyes, unable to cope as I stand there in a room torn apart by bullets and violence.
There’s a crashing sound and heavy footsteps. My eyes snap open at this new noise as four big men pile into the room in a band, so tight they move as one. They’re followed by two more men. They are all huge. What the hell? Do they grow them on some farm somewhere? Instead of planting corn, they plant crops of genetically enhanced men?
“You’re out-fucking-numbered, Popov. Call it a day.” It’s a bear of a blond man who speaks, and he’s bigger than any of the others. Massive. He’s got long wavy hair and a friendly face, which contrasts with the gun he’s holding, calmly raised and trained on Popov.
Popov doesn’t speak, but the men on his side of this lower their weapons. Not all of them, though; some keep their guns trained on all of us. There are dead and wounded men on the floor, and I studiously avoid looking at them.
“Seems you’re shit out of luck, Popov. That’s what you get for making me suck your stubby, disgusting dick.” Liza laughs and shakes her head.
He glares at Liza. “I didn’t make you; you offered.”
She turns to Konstantin. “He forced me, baby, I swear it.”
“You told me that Konstantin didn’t have men here,” Popov growls at her.